


Do I have a reason to stay?

by JohFandom



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Angst, Eventual Smut, F/M, Friends to Lovers, Misunderstanding, Mutual Pining
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-03
Updated: 2020-03-03
Packaged: 2021-02-28 00:08:18
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,527
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22994458
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JohFandom/pseuds/JohFandom
Summary: You have been friends with Jung Jaehyun for four years, you have been in love with him for three.
Relationships: Jung Yoonoh | Jaehyun/Original Female Character(s), Jung Yoonoh | Jaehyun/Reader
Comments: 8
Kudos: 48





	Do I have a reason to stay?

“I don’t wanna watch another cop movie, Jae. We are supposed to take turns picking! When did ‘Monday Movie Nights’ become ‘My name is Jaehyun and I pick the movie every single week’ nights?” You sigh dramatically. “You’re lucky I keep coming back, I’m the last one standing from our college days and I’m one more boring movie away from moving away like the rest of them.” You say as you plop down on your best friend’s couch. 

You were kidding, of course. You would come over just to watch paint dry if it meant that you could spend time with him. You weren’t joking about the poor choice in entertainment, though. If you had to watch another predictable drama you were going to lose your mind. 

“Y/n… you fall asleep 20 minutes into the movie every single week. Why do you care what we watch?” He laughs as he begins to unpack the dinner you handed him when you walked through the door.

Per tradition, he hosts, you bring dinner. This was much more of a task when it was your whole college crew to feed, but after graduation the number of attendees dwindled down to just you two, not that either of you minded. It was nice to cook for two. 

“Maybe I wouldn’t fall asleep if we were watching something a little more entertaining! Seriously, Jae, all of these movies have the exact same plot, Big Strong Cop gets caught up in the criminal underworld, only to be betrayed by a perceived ally, forcing him to take justice into his own hands," you say dramatically, your voice dropping with intensity "with a gratuitous sex scene thrown in somewhere along the way for your viewing pleasure.”

“We both know you enjoy the gratuitous sex scenes just as much as I do, y/n, don’t play innocent for my benefit.” He smirks.

“Whatever you say, Jae.” You say, as you try not to acknowledge his obvious flirting. 

You hate how much you like his flirting. 

*beep* *beep* *beep*

Jaehyuns cellphone beeping breaks his concentration, you busy yourself setting the rest of the food out. You glance up at him as he reads whatever message came in from work. He works to much, but you love to see him in a job he loves. He worked hard in college to get where he is now, the company he works for is expanding rapidly. This makes you happy mostly because you love to see him in a career he has a part in building. Right now, however, he looks a little less than please with whatever conversation he is having. As he looks at his phone his hair falls over his forehead and your hand twitches, wanting to push it back out of his face, but you restrain yourself. 

You're in love with him. Of course you are. You have been in love with him for at least 3 years now. As much as you hate to be such a cliché, you can’t help it. 

You two met the first day of freshman year of college at orientation. Both of you were alone, no family helping you move in, no friends yet to sit with. You were just sitting alone, poking at a dry looking danish you grabbed from the breakfast buffet when someone tapped your shoulder asked to sit by you. 

You chatted over breakfast, and you have to admit that it was nice to not feel so out of place. After breakfast, you were separated into academic departments for further, more specific orientation. You didn’t get the chance to ask for his number, and he didn’t ask for yours, so you tried to forget about him as you continued to learn about the research you would be devoting your life to for the next four years. But no matter what you did, your thoughts drifted to the soft spoken business major many times throughout the day, it was nice to have a friend. You regretted not getting his number and missing your chance. 

You told yourself if you ever ran into him again you weren’t going to let the opportunity pass you by again and you would get his number. 

You didn't expect it to actually happen, though.

You were walking into your introductory sociology class, when you saw a familiar face already sitting in the lecture hall. Your heart skipped a beat as you began walking toward him with shaking hands. But as you were drawing near, you noticed a few people chatting with him easily 'of course he made other friends quickly' you think to yourself as you see the newcomers settle into the seats next to him. Your confidence left just quickly as it came, and you began scanning the room for a less crowded spot. 

He happened to glance up and see you, he raised his hand to wave and you dropped down into the nearest seat to you, across the room from him, and gave him a quick smile.  
To your disbelief he dismissed himself from the friends he was chatting with and found his way the empty seat next to you. 

“Hey, I’m glad we have this class together, I watched the anime that we talked about at orientation and was so frustrated when I didn’t have anyway to talk to you about it!” he began, easily and just like that, you two were inseparable. 

It wasn’t until sophomore year that you realized you were in love with him though, and life has been confusing ever since. 

You have seen girlfriends come and go, even dated someone yourself briefly, but there were always those scary, unacknowledged feelings for Jaeyhun in the back of your heart for safe keeping. You were a dynamic duo, and inseparable pair. No sense in asking for more. 

Your thoughts were disrupted by Jaehyun clearing his throat and waving his hand in front of your face.

“Ground control to Major Tom, where’d you go there, space cadet?” he jokes and you laugh your thoughts away.

You glance down at his phone, “A little late for work texts, is everything ok?”

“Yeah, that was just a coworker, not work related, no worries.” He says, forced casualty dripping from the words. 

“Ok, whatever you say, Jae.” you smile at him.

With that, he locks his phone and sighs, “Ok, ok, I’m thinking we meet in the middle and watch Star Wars. Fantasy for you, intergalactic justice for me.”

“Perfect,” you laugh as you both settle in and begin eating. 

Jaehyun’s phone beeps periodically throughout the movie, and you can’t help but wonder who keeps pulling his attention, but that’s not your business so you don’t ask.

As the credits begin to roll, Jaehyun takes a deep breath, drawing your attention.

“Hey, are you good? You seem a little off.”

“Yeah, I’m ok, I do have something to tell you though.” He begins, still not meeting your eye.

Your heart drops.

This is it. 

He is about to tell you that he has met someone. 

There is an unspoken rule in your friendship that you don’t usually talk about casual crushes or hook-ups. It works well for both of you. It’s only when things start to get more serious that you two let each other in on the news. You know this is weird. You know normal best friends don’t do this. 

As if on cue, his phone beeps again.

He glances down and starts rubbing his hands on his jeans, trying to dry his sweaty palms.

"Just say it," you think.

“Y/n, I was offered a position in Boston for 8 months setting up the new office. They asked me to take it because I ‘don’t have anything keeping me here’, the rest of the guys have families or girlfriends to keep them from traveling.”

Your mind is blank. 

What?

So not only is he not telling you that he is dating someone new, he’s telling you he ‘doesn’t have anything keeping him here’, 

the knife twists in your chest.

“Well if that’s how you feel… When do you leave?” you ask, trying to sound casual, but your voice is shaking.

“I have to tell them by tomorrow if I can make it work.”

You share a loaded silence.

“Well, if there’s nothing keeping you here…” you say as you begin to gather your things to leave.

“Y/n…” he begins “That’s not what I meant.”

Your heart is broken. 

For the last three years you thought you had kept your hopes low. You thought you were protecting your heart, and here it is breaking again.

“It’s getting late, I have meetings all day tomorrow, I should get going.” You stand to leave.

He exhales, more frustrated than you have ever seen him.

“Y/n, stop, I am asking you if I have a reason to stay here.” he says, defeated.

You pause

“Jaehyun, if you have to ask for a reason, you don’t have one.” you say, as you make it out the front door, begging your tears to not betray you before you can make it to your car.

That was two years ago.

**Author's Note:**

> This is my very first story,  
> I have a lot planned for these two characters,  
> please leave any tips or suggestions in the comments.


End file.
